Well, I’m back.

Thank you for all the kind emails and posts that you sent, they were all greatly appreciated. I do expect to have to go back to the UK within the year to sort out the inevitable but, in the meantime, I’m happy and confident that all that can be done is being done.

So what now, I hear you ask, well … May is going to be a big month writing-wise for all those who choose for it to be. For all those who have been regularly (I was going to put incessantly, but that seemed a bit too direct even for me) asking for in-person workshops, listen up because here’s proof I wasn’t ignoring you (even if it may have felt that way over the past months).

May 18th, 19th, and 20th is the weekend of the Sunspirit Festival in Fremantle, WA. There are many exciting things organised, many around GrandMother Drum – a 7ft wooden drum, inlaid with crystals and envisioned by Tribal North American Grandmother to promote peace and healing. It’s the first time it’s come to Western Australia and if you haven’t heard it before I strongly suggest booking in for one of the workshops or concerts, well worth your time. For more info on this click here.

But the other great news about the weekend is that I’ve been invited to hold writing workshops over the entire 3 days – yep, 3 days of writing workshops! I had thought of doing a complete weekend course but thought that might limit the number of people able to attend, so in the end I divided the days into individual workshops for those who only want (or are free) to attend the odd one or two, but I’ve also organised a special price for those who are eager to attend for entire days.

Want to know what I’m covering?

FRIDAY18th

(16/5 Please note that Friday morning workshops have been moved to Sunday morning. Hopefully that suits everyone better, sorry if it messes anyone around. EB)

2 – 3.30pm ~ Playing with Words
What do your word choices say about you, your writing ability and your preconceptions about the reader? It’s all too easy to use the first (or the second) word that comes to mind, but is it the right one – or even the right phrase – to use? In this workshop we’ll be covering all manner of writing techniques and word choices that may be letting you down.

4 – 5.30pm ~ Using your Senses
Don’t just share a story with your reader; have them in the room experiencing it with you. Have them tasting the home-made soup, touching the rose petals, smelling the burning wood of the bushfire. Learn techniques to bring your story to life, without losing it in description.

SATURDAY 19th

(19/5 – There are still a few tickets available for each session, so feel free to turn up and pay on the door. EB)

10 – 11.30am ~ ‘Show, don’t tell’ Demystified – at last
We hear it referred to all the time as being something that dramatically and consistently improves all aspects of your writing, but do you really understand how it works and how to make it work for you? Come along to this workshop and let me clear up the confusion once and for all!

12noon – 1.30pm ~ How to Touch Your Reader
There’s nothing quite like knowing your writing has touched a reader – it might have made them laugh, cry, jump for joy or simply stopped them from putting your writing down. It takes more than a good story – it takes skill and insight. This workshop shares techniques I learned from writing for Chicken Soup for the Soul.

2.30 – 5.30pm ~ The Secrets to Self-publishing Successfully
Are you looking for somebody to share honest, insightful and practical information on publishing before you create your own book? Somebody who will answer your questions?

Over the last two decades, I’ve been published, I’ve self-published, e-book-published and all manner of other things. And, as a writing coach, every week I hear of people who have made any of the many classic mistakes in publishing that I just know will cost them dearly. So please, please, please, if you’re thinking of publishing a book or e-book, take a couple of hours out of your day and save yourself a possible fortune in money and heartache.

SUNDAY 20th

10 – 11.30am ~ Writing Dialogue that Works
We all write and we all talk, so why can it be so hard to write powerful, realistic dialogue and conversation that jump off the page? Using no dialogue is bad, but using stilted dialogue is worse. Learn the secrets, the structure, and the hidden tricks that will make your readers think all your conversations are real.

12noon – 1.30pm ~ Finding the Perfect Pace
Does your story have a soggy middle, a slow start or perhaps it leaves your reader exhausted and gasping for air? Pacing your story correctly at each turn is vital to the enjoyment of the reading. It’s not hard to do if you know how, but you do need to know how. So come along and learn your ideal pace!

2.30 – 5.30 ~ Practice to Perfection
We all know there’s a huge difference between knowing logically what has to be done and doing it successfully. Yet sometimes all it takes to cross the divide is sitting down with somebody and letting them physically show you how to improve.

As a Writing Coach I’ve been supporting and guiding writers for over a decade; helping them to become the writer they want to be. If this sounds like what you need, or you want to put in to practice everything that has been covered over this weekend, why not join this small group for an afternoon of writing exercises, critiques and insights? I promise to be kind – honest, but kind.

—

So, which of those appeal? All the topics are essential to just about every kind of writing – that’s why I picked them. Class sizes aren’t particularly large, which means you’ll need to book quickly, especially since you know how rarely I take up the offer of running in-person workshops.

For prices and bookings have a look at the Sunspirit Festival website.

I’m also doing a Q & A Session on All Things Publishing at the Bodhi Tree on Sunday 27^th May, and starting a Group Coaching for Writers on Tuesday 29^th May.

Check them out and book in or why not tell me if there are other events I can organise to help you?

Tags: 2012, classes, Elizabeth Bezant, festivals, May, Perth, Sunspirit, tips, WA, workshops, writing

G’day everyone, Just a quick post to let you know I haven’t totally disappeared off the side of the earth and forgotten all about you. However, I have had to make a slight detour; I’m currently in the UK.

My father’s health has taken a sudden downturn and I felt the need to hop on the first plane out to see him. I will, though, be back in my office April 20th. In the meantime, all courses are running as normal, I’m still replying to emails, and if anything is urgent my family is home taking phone messages. But beyond that I’m afraid a few things, like the newsletter, are happening a bit slower than usual.

I hope this hasn’t messed things up for anybody, and I promise I will be rescheduling all delayed workshops and group coaching sessions as soon as I get back.

Thank you for your patience.

Elizabeth

If you’re in search of detailed information and personal stories relating to ebook creation, here’s an event that may appeal to you.

The E-Exchange

Saturday 10th March

Mt Lawley, WA

It’s being held by the Australian Society of Authors, so they should know their stuff. Tickets are $130 for members, $185 to non-members.

To find out more visit the ASA website.

AND the great news is, if you don’t live in Western Australia, they are holding similar events across the whole country (again, to find more, visit their website).

Hope to see some of you there.

Creating a cover for an ebook has subtle differences to creating one for a paper or hardback, not least the fact that most ebook covers need to have an impact even when they are in black and white.

Over the years, I’ve created many paperback covers, to me colour has always been a vital part of their creation. After all, the amount of time you have to catch a person’s attention as they walk past the bookstore’s shelf is only seconds, so you need to use every trick you can think of, and colour not only adds energy but pick the right shade and the reader will be drawn to it.

However, while ebooks are often displayed on websites in colour, if you’re searching your ebook reader for a new book to buy chances are the cover will only be displayed in grayscale, and at a fraction of the normal size. For this reason a standard paperback cover doesn’t always work as a ebook one.

As an example compare the two covers of my book, Lost Outside These Walls.

This was the first cover I ever designed and I was always quite happy with the colour cover of the paperback. But as soon as I changed it to greyscale much of the important text was hardly visible and a lot of the textural detail of the landscape was lost.

So bearing this in mind, and the fact that my new ebook ‘Procrastination to Print’ is factual book, not fiction, this time around I went for something with cleaner lines and a stronger typeface.

As you’ll see, there’s very little difference between the colour and the greyscale covers but both have impact and the vital information is clear, even at the reduced size. This isn’t to say however, that if I was making this book into a paperback that I would go for a black cover, but as an ebook I think it works well. (Not to say I don’t like black books, but you have to be selective on how you use the colour.)

So here are a few tips to bear in mind when creating an ebook cover.

• Use a clear, well defined font that stands out even when the size of the cover is reduced. Never underestimate the difference made by adding a slim black line around each letter.
• Ensure your picture, if you have one, looks good in grayscale (ie black and white, with not colour).
• Be sure to keep everything important away from the edge of your cover in case it gets cropped to fit the website’s templates.
• Since all ebooks tend to come with a blurb or free first chapter, you only have to tempt possible readers to enquire further, so don’t feel that you have to fill the front cover with information.

Tags: cover, ebook, Elizabeth Bezant, selfpublish, writers, writing advice, writing coach, Writing to Inspire (my business site)

Procrastination to Print, how to stop mucking about and get writing.

I hope you like it.

Here’s the process I went through to make my decision.

I picked Procrastination to Print, because it was short, punchy and I liked the alliteration. What’s more, it almost shows exactly what the book is about. Although it doesn’t say the book is about goal setting, I think it says enough for anybody who is procrastinating or wanting to get into print to stop and look further.

Having got this far, I let the title float around my mind for a couple of days, just in case a variation came to mind, or I realised it sounded like something else, or I realised the initials made a rude word, you know the thing. (I’ve never really been able to get past the fact that many years ago one of the educational institutions in Southampton, England, chose the new name of South Hants Institute of Technology, but only realised once the new signs were up that they should have checked the initials.)

The sub-heading I chose because it clarified any doubts remaining as to whether the book would get writers writing. It could just as easily have been something along the lines of ‘an easy guide to goal setting for writers’ but I liked the ‘mucking about’ bit because it sounded friendly and relaxed as opposed to professional and authorative.

Then having decided on the title I did a Google search and a search on Amazon to check nobody else has used the title, thankfully they haven’t. So there you are, title picked.

Therefore, following the promised prizes for the title competition started on Feb 3rd, I would like to post a small prizes out to:

Clare H for starting us off on the word procrastination, and for being the brave soul to offer a suggestion first.

Lyndall for getting me thinking about a three word title which included the word procrastination.

Thank you also to everybody who took the time to make a suggestion. I hope you enjoyed the process, maybe we should try it again another time.

In the meantime, if Clare and Lyndall would be kind enough to send me a comment that includes their mailing addresses (I promise I will delete it from the post before I make it ‘live’) I’ll drop a little something in to the mail for you.

Tags: book title, Elizabeth Bezant, Journey to Ebook and Online Success, writing advice, writing coach, writing competition

Just a quick post to thank everyone for their ideas on the title for my new, soon to be released, ebook on goal setting. I’m currently contemplating and hope to get back to your shortly.

It’s so easy to get stuck in one point of view when you’re thinking about titles (or anything else for that matter), so it was wonderful to have others throw in their ideas too. Thank you.

To indent or not to indent, that is the question.

As I’m going through the second final edit of my ebook, I’m not only looking at the words but also considering the page layout, and the question of paragraph formatting comes to mind.

In my paperback books I’ve nearly always gone for indented paragraphs, indenting the first line of a paragraph and leaving only a slight gap between each paragraph. This has always been, in my opinion, the friendliest way to set out the text, primarily because block paragraphs (no first line indent and a line of space between the paragraphs) always felt more business-like.

(I have the same views on text only being justified on the left with scraggily ends on the right as opposed to the text being stretched on each line to ensure both margins are straight and parallel.)

I’ve never been able to figure out if this is a personal preference or something more.

• Is it due to the books I read as a child?
• Is it due to having taken a secretarial course where everything was in block paragraphs?
• Is it because I don’t like conformity?

Heck, I don’t know, all I know now is that I have to reconsider for the sake of ebook creation.

Not that my choice on which style of paragraph I pick will probably come done to my personal preference of layout. I’ll more than likely be defined by other people’s thoughts and if I can remember how to format indents in MS Word without tabbing (which doesn’t convert well into ebook).

So, for curiosity’s sake, kind commenters, if you have an Ebook Reader do you have preferences for your paragraph layout? Block or indent?

Tags: block, Ebook Odyssey, ebooks, Elizabeth Bezant, indent, Journey to Ebook and Online Success, paragraph, paragraph format, self publishing, selfpublish, styles, writing advice, Writing to Inspire (my business site)

We all know what an ISBN is, right? (An International Standard Book Number made up of 13 digits that works as an individual fingerprint for any book that has one assigned to it.) No two books have the same number, and, in fact, if you have one for your paperback, but then decide to bring the content out as an audiobook or hardcover you would need a different number for the different format.

But the question is, does an ebook need an ISBN?

I’ve been doing some reading and thinking on this, and my thought (at this current stage of ebook technology) is no.

• From my experience of sourcing, ordering and receiving books for The Bodhi Tree, I’m more than aware that ISBNs are vital to the world of bookstores and distributors. There is no way to guarantee that any book we order in is the correct one without knowing the ISBN
• As a self-publisher I know that an ISBN is vital when dealing with a distributor with regards to ordering and payments.

However, none of this seems relevant to ebooks.

• Book retailers don’t need them because they don’t order them in.
• Customers will read the promotional material for a book they want online and then just click the BUY button; an ISBN doesn’t even come into the decision.
• Distributors (or in this case online stores) use software that automatically tells them how many books written by whoever have been sold; there is very little need for human interaction.

You can buy ISBNs for ebooks and, in fact, Smashwords will give you a complimentary one when you list your book with them, but as yet I can see no genuine reason for buying one. Of course, that could well change (the need for them, not my logic). The business of ebooks is still so young who knows where it will have progressed to next year.

However, despite all the above, my thought at the moment is to list my ebooks both with Amazon and Smashwords so the subject is really moot – still one I thought important to cover anyway.

So, what are your thoughts on ISBNs and ebooks?

Do you agree?

Do you have thoughts on why it might be important for ebooks to have their own number?

Tags: ebook, Ebook Odyssey, Elizabeth Bezant, ISBN, Journey to Ebook and Online Success, self publishing, selfpublish, writing advice, Writing to Inspire (my business site)

Having solved the procrastination problem by having my hair cut, I’m now contemplating a title for my ebook. So, being the creative soul I am (creative, not lazy, mind you) I thought I would throw the question out to you wonderful people in the hope of creating some friendly discussion, and hopefully that you may come up with  better titles than I’m getting.

AND, just so you know, there will be prizes.

The ebook I’m currently working on is an updated version of my workbook ‘Effective Goal Setting for Writers’. It’s full of practical information, personal anecdotes and exercises to take a person step-by-step through the process of defining, setting and keeping their writing goals. If you’ve read (or flicked through) my ‘I Want to Write, but know where to start’ book, it’s like that but focused entirely on goal setting for writers.

Effective Goal Setting for Writers worked well for a workbook title, but it seems to lack the necessary shininess and allure for book format.

It’s a perfect sub-title, but a boring title.

• I want something catchy, fun, enticing, may be even classy and intelligent as well if possible.
• I want something that will make the people who hate goal setting, pick up the book and think twice before they put it down (so to speak).
• I want something that tells the reader this won’t be just another dry book on what they should do.
• I want a title that says this book makes goal setting an easy, fun and positive experience.

So what do you think, are you up for some playing with words?

The competition closes in two weeks on Sunday 19th Feb.

To suggest a title simply write it in as comment on this blog post. I’ll be giving feedback and comments over the weeks, discussion is welcome and you can put forward as many ideas as you have (providing they fit, or come close to, the above outline).

It will be like online brainstorming.

I’ll even put some ideas forward too, so you can tell me what you think.

So, what about it? Any thoughts?

Tags: ebooks, Elizabeth Bezant, goal setting, Journey to Ebook and Online Success, selfpublish, title, title competition, writers, writing competition, Writing to Inspire (my business site)

Have you ever found that when you’re writing on a particular topic how easy it is to get distracted by the information and research that’s available?

Over the past few months I’ve been reading up on all aspects of ebooks. Over the time I’ve found some excellent resources (I’ve also found some decidedly mediocre ones too), yet still there are more books to read, videos and podcasts to watch, and audios to listen to. But eventually there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough, and just assume you know enough (at least at the moment) because it doesn’t matter how much you know of a topic if you don’t finish the writing of it.

What I’ve found from all my research in to ebook success is simple really:

1. Write a book (popular fiction is the most successful).
2. Start building a following on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
3. Convert your book and sell it on Amazon and/or Smashwords for a price between 99c and $4.99.
4. Promote it through genuine posts on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

How to go about completing these four steps varies only slightly from one piece of information I‘ve read to the next. In most cases the variations are caused by personal choice, available time and focus on the final outcome. It’s all too true that many people manage the first and third steps of this process but go no further thinking their books will sell on their own. This rarely happens, you have to promote, especially if you want to make sales that pay for more than the occasional coffee.

Of course, this is a simplified list of steps but by breaking down the journey into smaller chunks not only does it make things easier, but it can also work wonders for keeping you on track (and not distracted by research).

Tips to avoid over-researching

• Restrict yourself a set amount of time to research, either a certain amount of time before you start your project or a weekly amount.
• Set yourself a deadline for finishing your draft copies.
• Accept that sometimes you can start writing without knowing all the information.
• Know that too much researching can delay your writing, and recognise if it happens to you.
• Limit the amount of sources you study to a handful of reliable sources.

Just for the record, I’m in the second final edit of my ebook and have started to build my following (hopefully).

Tags: ebooks, Journey to Ebook and Online Success, researching, selfpublish, writing advice, writing coach